Geographical clock.



PATENTBD JAN. 13, 1903.

I. P. PHEILS. GEOGRAPHICAL CLOCK APPLIOATION FILED JULY 13, 1901,

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H0 MQDEL.

No. 718,579. PATENTBD JAN. 13, 1903.

I. F. PHEILS,

GEOGRAPHICAL GLOGK. APPLICATION FILED JULY 13, 1901.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

UNTTnn STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

ISAAC F. PIIEILS, OF \VOODVILLE, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHEILS UNI- VERSAL CLOCK COMPANY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION.

GEOGRAPHICAL CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,579, dated January 13, 1903.

Application filed July 13, 1901. Serial No. 68,244. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC F. PI-IEILS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Voodville, in the county of Sandusky and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Time- Indicator, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to time-indicators, and particularly to an apparatus adaptedfor determining the relative times between places of difierent points upon the earths surface and also for obtaining the absolute time, both standard and solar, at any given place on the earths surface.

In addition to providing what may be termed a geographical clock, adapted for educational and other purposes, it is my object to provide a universal time-indicator which may be used at any point on the earths surface to indicate the time and which While indicating local time also indicates both relatively and actually the time at any other given place.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof Will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of an indicator constructed in accordance with my invention, the same being shown inclosed in a suitable casing and having a local map extension given a specified portion of the earths surface in detail for specific reference. Fig. 2 is a horizontal transverse sectional view, taken centrally, of the time-indicating mechanism. Figs. 3 and 4: are respectively rear and face views of a disk forming a part of the revoluble member of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a detail View in perspective of a portion of the universal hour hand of indicator to show one means of connection between the arms or spokes thereof and the outer or minute rim. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a portion of the universal hour'hand to show one means of connection of the inner ends of the arms or spokes to the inner rim or attaching-ring. Fig.7 is a sectional view similar to Fig.2,showment of parts from that indicated in Figs. 5

and 6. Fig. 10 is a detail section on the plane indicated by the line a a of Fig. 2. Fig. 11 is a view of another modified construction of the universal hour-hand.

Similar reference characters indicate eorresponding parts in the several views of the drawings.

My present invention consists in an improvement upon the apparatus shown and described in my former patent, No. 641,540, granted January 16, 1900, and in the preferred embodiment thereof the new apparatus com prises two main elements or members, one of which is stationary and the other of which is revoluble and is movable with relation to the stationary member. One of these members carries a superficial geographical representation viewing the earths surface from one of the poles, preferably the north pole, that portion of the earths surface which is beyond the equator being spread out to bring all within range of the eye of the observer, and hence within the range of the universal clock embodying my invention.

In the construction illustrated the stationary member 10 is fiat and of disk-like construction, the central portion thereof being depressed or repressed, as shown at 11, to form a cavity or casing in which certain portions of the operating mechanism of the movable member 12 may be arranged, as will be explained hereinafter. Upon the portion of the surface of the stationary member surrounding the depression 11 is arranged the geographical representation, and traversing this surface around an axis located centrally of the stationary member 10 and occupying a position coincidental with the imaginary pole is the revoluble member consisting of a central disk 13 and a universal hour hand or indicator 14. Preferably the said hour-hand is removably fixed upon the hub or disk 13, so that it may be removed for shipment, and in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6,

inclusive, the disk is dished to provide a flange 15, upon the outer surface of which is fitted a ring 16, to-which the inner ends of the arms or spokes 17 are attached, said arms or spokes radiating at uniform intervals and being properly spaced at their outer extremities by means of a minute-band 18. In the drawings the inner ends of the arms or spokes are shown as reduced to form the tongues 19, which fit in uniformly-spaced openings in the ring and are headed or swaged on the inner surface of the rim. Near their outer ends the arms or spokes are notched, and the minute-band 18 is correspondingly notched to interlock wit-h the notches of the arms or spokes, as shown at 20. The arms or spokes may be extended beyond the minute ring or band to form pointers 2l, bearing hour-indicating characters, and although these arms or spokes may be made of flat material set edgewise and may be given quarter-turns at their outer ends to provide flat surfaces parallel with the face of the stationarymember of the device, as shown in Fig. 5, it will be understood that I do not limit myself to this detail of construction, the outer ends of the arms may be permitted to extend to form pointers without being turned or bent. (See Fig. 8. The rear edge of the flange 15 is preferably provided with a bead 22 to limit the rearward movement of the ring 16, and said ring may be arranged to fit snugly on the flange, so that accidental forward displacement is prevented, while permitting removal. On the front surface of the disk 13 is a dial or indicator 23, bearing graduations, such as hou r-marks, ranging in two series from one to twelve, each series extending one-half around the inner edge of the sheet, and the twelveoclock characters being marked respectively noon and midnight. The portion of the said indicator between six at one side and six at the other and embracing twelve 'oclock midnight is preferably colored black or is shaded to indicate that portion of the day between six p. m. and six a. 111.

An ordinary or any preferred construction of clock mechanism may be used to give the necessary motion to the revoluble member of the indicator, the preferred arrangement involving a minute-gear 24, having a spindle 25, which makes one revolution each hour and carries local minute-hands 26 and 27, one of which, as will be explained more fully hereinafter, being set to standard and the other to solar time, it being well known that there is a slight variation between the two at different points. Said minute-gear, through intermediate speed-reducing gears 28 and 29, which are rigidly connected, communicates motion to an hour-gear 30, of which thespindle 31 extends forward concentric with the minute-spindle 25 and carries a local hourhand 32, which, in common with the standard and solar local minute-hands 26 and 27, traverses a local time-dial 33, which is fixed in place, covering the center of the disk 13,

and is supported by the tubular standard 34, which is concentered with the hour and minute spindles hereinbefore described. Mounted for revoluble movement on the exterior surface of this standard 34 is the hub 35 of the disk 13, and secured to this hub is agear 36, with which meshes a reduced portion 37 of the before-described gear 29, the relative sizes of the gears being such that the disk 13 makes one com plete revolution in twenty-four hours.

Revolubly mounted upon the rear side of the disk 13 is a series (preferably eight) of dayregisters 38, each provided with characters representing the days of the week, which are successively exposed through sight-openings 39 in the web or plate portion of the disk, said day-registers being successively given a step-by-step movement by means of an actuating element,which in the construction illustrated consists of an arm 40, which is upstruck from the side of the depression 11 in the stationary member 10. Its construction is clearly shown in Fig. 10. The said actuating-arn1 40, which is stationary and acts upon the dayregisters successively as they are brought into operative relation therewith during the revolution of the member 12, c0- operates with rearwardly-projecting pins or fingers 41, carried by the day-registers.

In all devices of this class it is desirable not only to provide a construction which will result in accuracy in operation, but to construct and arrange the parts for manufacture at a small expense and to avoid the necessity of frequent repairs, and hence in addition to the features above described I have devised a simple, strong, and efficient manner of mounting the day-registers on the disk 13, the same consisting in upsetting the disk rearwardly to form the projections or bosses 42 and still further upsetting these bosses centrally to form sleeves 43, uponwhich are fitted central openings of the day-registers, the front surface of the said day-registers being spaced from the rear registers of the disk by the projection of the bosses. At their inner edges the sleeves 43 are headed, flanged, or upset, as shown at 44, against washers 45, and hence the day-registers are permitted to rotate in the step-by-step manner hereinbefore mentioned and at the same time are held from accidental displacement. The upset-- ting of the disk to form the bearings or journals for the day-registers and to form the peripheral seat for the reception of the inner ring of the universal hour hand or indicator may be done in one operation by means of a suitable die, and simultaneously therewith the necessary central opening may be formed in said disk and may be flanged, as shown at 46, to fit the hub or sleeve 35, by which it is mounted upon the support or standard 34.

It will be observed that the local time-dial 33 is of such diameter as to cover the central portion of the front of the machine up to the inner edge of the annular indicating-sheet 23,

ITO

which bears the universal hour characters hereinbefore mentioned. Beyond the outer periphery of the indicating-sheet 23 (which is extended sufficiently to cover and conceal the inner mounting-ring 15 of the universal hour hand or indicator) the surface of the stationary member 10, bearing the geographical representation, is exposed, and also from said point the arms or spokes 17 extend to indicate the lines of corresponding time, or, in other words, to coincide with the meridians of longitude.

The interval between each two adjacent arms or spokes of the universal hour-hand represents fifteen degrees, or one hour in time, just as the intervals between meridians represent a similar interval of time, and therefore by designating each of the arms or spokes of the universal hour-hand to represent an hour any given position of said hourhand will represent the relative times and also the actual standard times on all of the meridians or at all points over which said arms or spokes happen to be located. In practice I prefer to number the arms or spokes on their outer extremities or on the portions representing pointers in two series of twelve each, one-half of the pointers being colored .or shaded dark to represent the hours of night from six p. m. to seven a. m., inclusive. I-Ience as the universal hour-hand progresses over the representation of the earths surface those points over which the arms or spokes are successively located will be designated as having a standard time corresponding to the designations of the respective arms. Hence in order that the time at any given point and at any time of the day may be indicated with greater accuracy than at intervals of an hour it is only necessary for me to provide a minute-indicator, and a convenient form of such indicator is illustrated in Fig. 5, wherein the band or rim 18 is graduated between the hour-marks, in coincidence with which the arms or spokes are located to represent minutes or fractions of an hour. In Fig. 8 I have shown a slightlymodified form of universal minute-indicator. Therefore with this construction and arrangement of parts in order at any time of the day that the observer located at any point on the earths surface may tell the exact time of day or night at any other given point on the earths surface it is only necessary to observe the minute-graduation corresponding with the location of said point on the map and the designations of the hour arms or spokes between which said min Lite-graduation occurs.

The local time-indicator, consisting of the local time-dial 33 and the hour and minute hands'which traverse the same, is for convenience of comparison and to keep the time of the place in which the clock is located, and in order thatthe difference between standard and sun or solar time may be noted and taken into consideration in case an ac-- curate calculation is necessary I provide the hands 26 and 27 hereinbefore described.

There may be a variation of from one to three minutes or more, according to location.

For use on shipboard or under conditions when an absolutely-fixed position of the clock cannot be attained I prefer to convey motion to the universal hour hand or indicator by means of an auxiliary or counter spindle 4'7, (see Fig. 7,) which receives motion from the gear actuated by the clock mechanism and is provided at its outer end with a pinion 48, extending through a small opening in the stationary member or base 10 and meshing with rack-teeth 49 on the lower edge of the band or rim 50, which corresponds in construction and function with the minute-band 18.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 9 the inner ends of the arms or spokes 51 of the universal hour-hand are attached directly to the flange of the disk 52, thus dispensing with the detachable or removable connection between said parts, as shown in the preferred form illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive. Also, as indicated in Fig. 8, the outer projecting extremities of the arms or spokes which form the pointers 53 may be extended in the planes, respectively, of the arms.

The auxiliary or detail map attachment 54 is provided with meridian-lines corresponding and alining with those on the main or polar-viewed map when it is desired to refer specifically to a particular portion of the earths surface, as to a particular country, the case within which the apparatus is arranged being provided with a suitable extension for the reception of this auxiliary map. Obviously this supplemental map or extension must be arranged opposite that portion of the main map upon which the corresponding country or area is represented, so that the corresponding meridians will be in alinement. The fact that the outer extremities of the arms or spokes of the universal hour-hand do not traverse the surface of the supplementary map will not prevent the reading of the time in so far as it relates to a particular point on the map.

Various other uses and advantages of the apparatus both from an educational and a technical or scientific standpoint will be apparent to those skilled in the art; but it is deemed unnecessary to particularly emphasize other than the above-mentioned advant-ages in connection with the universal timeindicating feature, which consists, essentially, of a twenty-four-hour dial constructed with or bearing the polar-view representation of the earths surface and a universal or twenty-four-hourhandhavinganumberofelements or pointers corresponding with the number of standard meridians and adapted at stated intervals to correspond or coincide, respectively, therewith,said elements of the universal hour-hand being arranged at intervals of fifteen degrees. It will be seen that the spokes or elements of the twenty-four-hour IIO III

hand may be used for two purposesnamely, for indicating standard time and for indicat ing solar or sun time. For indicating standard time only the standard meridians are considered. For instance, when the standard hour begins every hour-spoke is directly over the corresponding standard meridian. Five minutes later each hour-spoke is five minutes past the corresponding standard meridian, and in this connection I use the ordinary minute-hand traversing an ordinary twelvehour-clock dial to provide for ready reference to the time of the world. In reference to suntime or accurate time of a given place it will be seen that when the hour-spoke indicates twelve noon for that place it also indicates that it is later than twelve noon for another place east of that point, and therefore it is a simple matter to ascertain the actual or sun time of any point on the earths surface with reference to any other given point and also to find the standard time of the same place, the use of twenty-four-hour spokes making it possible to establish a quick and at the same time accurate comparison.

In Fig. 11 I have shown a modified construction of tWenty-four-hour hand wherein the outer or minute band 55 is provided with an opening 56 for the reception of a reduced outer end 57 of the hour-spoke 58, said hourspoke having shoulders 59 to bear against the inner surface of the minute-band, and at its inner ends said hour-spoke is provided with one or more pliable ears or projections 60, adapted to extend through an opening or openings in the inner band 61 and capable of being bent to lie against the inner surface of said band. In applying the spokes constructed in this way the outer ends thereof may be inserted in the openings of the minute-band, after which the projections of the inner ends thereof may be passed through the openings in theinnerband, snapping into place by reason of the resilience of the parts. In this Way the tWenty-four-hour hand may be constructed Without the use of auxiliary fastening means.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is l. Atime-indicatorcomprisingastationary member provided with a geographical representation including meridian-lines, a revoluble hour-hand comprising a series of equidistantly-spaced radial arms adapted to traverse over the stationary member, said arms being of a number equal to the number of standard meridian-lines, a minute-indicating band connected to the arms near their outer extremities and movable therewith, means forimparting motion to the hour-hand to cause one complete revolution in twenty-four hours, a centrally-disposed auxiliary dial for the representation of local time, and hour and minute indicating hands traversing said auxiliary dial.

2. Atime-indicatorcomprisingastationary member provided with a geographical representation including meridian-lines, a revoluble hour-hand comprising a series of equidistantly-spaced radial arms adapted to traverse over the stationary member, said arms being of a number equal to the number of standard meridian-lines, a minute-indicating band in the form of a ring having its widest portion disposed in a plane substantially at right angles to the stationary member, said band being connected to the arms near their outer extremities and being graduated to represent minutes of time, and means for imparting motion to said hour-hand to cause one complete revolution in twenty-four hours.

3. The combination with a time-indicator, of a stationary member provided with a polar geographical representation including meridian-lines and having an outer row of figures designating degrees of longitude, a revoluble member having twenty-four hands adapted to traverse over the face of the dial, a minuteindicating band connected to the arms near their outer extremities and at a point adja cent to the circular row of longitude-indicating numerals, said band being graduated to represent minutes of time, and means forimparting motion to said revoluble member to cause one complete rotation of the same in twenty-four hours.

4. A time-indicator comprising a stationary member having a map, a revoluble member having a centraldisk provided with a peripheral flange, and a series of radial arms arranged at uniform intervals and connected at their inner ends by a band fitted upon said flange and adapted to traverse said map, and means for imparting rotary motion to the disk.

5. A time-indicator comprising a stationary member having a map, a revoluble member having a central disk provided with a peripheral flange, and a series of connected radial arms provided at their inner ends with a band fitted upon said flange, and near their outer ends with a band having graduations representing fractions of the unit of time, and means for imparting rotary motion to said disk.

6. A time-indicator comprising a stationary member bearing a polar geographical representation, a universal time-indicating hand having elements traversing said representation, means for actuating said hand, and an enlarged local geographical representation having meridian-lines alined with those of the first-named geographical representation.

7. A device of the class described comprising the map-plate having a depression, a dished plate rotatably mounted upon the map-plate to cover the depression and having a sight-opening therethrough, a disk mounted rotatably upon the rear of the dished plate and having rearwardly-directed projections, said disk having its face provided with day-names for successive exhibition through the sight-opening, and a finger struck from the side of the depression of the map-plate ITS and lying in the path of movement of the adjacent projection of the disk to rotate the latter in its bodily movement with the dished plate.

8. A device of the class described including the map-plate having a depression and a finger struck from the material forming the Wall of the depression and extending inwardly of the latter, and a rotatable plate having a sightopening therein, and having a disk mounted rotatably thereon, said disk having day-names marked thereon for exhibition through the sight-opening, and having projections for successive engagement With the finger to give intermittent motion to the disk as the plate is rotated.

9. A device of the class described comprising a dished plate including a Web and a flange, an inner band disposed against the flange and having openings therein, an outer band disposed concentric with the inner band and having slots extending inwardly from an edge thereof, and spokes having their inner ends disposed in theopenings of the inner band and riveted against the inner face thereof, the outer portions of the spokes being engaged in the slots of the outer band.

10. Adevice of the class described com prising a dished plate, an inner band encircling the flange of the plate and having openings therein, an outer band disposed concentric with the inner band and having slots formed through an edge thereof, and hands consisting of metal strips having their inner ends reduced and disposed in the openings of the band, against which latter they are riveted, said hands being arranged with their outer portions in the slots of the outer band, and projecting therebeyond, the projecting portions being broadened to receive numbers.

11. A device of the class described comprising a plate having a boss struck'up therefrom and having a perforation therethrough, the boss being further struck up to form a flange encircling the perforation to form a spindle, and a rotatable member disposed upon the flange, the flange being flared beyond the rotatable member to prevent displacement thereof.

12. A device of the class described comprising a plate having a boss struck therefrom and provided with a perforation, the metal at the edge of the perforation being further struck to form a flange, a rotatable member disposed upon the flange and against the boss, and a Washer upon the flange beyond the rotatable member, the flange being flared against the Washer to hold the latter in place.

13. A device of the class described comprising a map, having meridian-lines thereon, a hand disposed to traverse the map to indicate the time at diiferent points thereof, means for rotating the hand, and a supplemental map disposed beyond the first map and showing a portion of the first map on a larger scale, the meridian-lines of the first map being continued onto the supplemental map.

14:. A device of the class specified, comprising a dished plate including a Web and a flange, a band disposed concentric with the flange and having slots extending inwardly from an edge thereof, and spokes having their inner ends supported by the flange, the outer portions of the spokes being engaged in the slots of said band.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ISAAC F. PHEILS.

Witnesses:

O. O. LAYMAN, WALTER L. BRAY. 

